“The tragedy of the film is that it’s about a fellow who is put in situations with other men where violence and force is the common coin. It’s the tool that he has to deal with the situations in which he finds himself, and it’s also the thing that separates him from everything in life he wants, including finally the love of a woman. It’s made by someone who knows this.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 07/26/2017
“Tiffany Haddish gives one of those out-of-nowhere breakout performances, like Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids or Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover, where you can’t remember if you’ve seen them in anything before, but you know you want to see everything they’re in from now on. Even when she’s being dirty she still seems awfully sweet.” – North Shore Movies, 07/24/2017
“Nolan intercuts three separate stories that take place over a week, a day and an hour — on land, sea and air, respectively — so that we’re watching them all simultaneously, giving the sensation of a constant battle. Relentlessly barreling between dive bombings, torpedo attacks and dogfights, the movie works your nerves. It’s just one damn thing after another.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 07/21/2017
“So visually bonkers it’s almost impossible to absorb all at once. Anyone who’s seen The Fifth Element already knows Besson’s ga-ga sensibility is unencumbered by taste. There’s a rip-roaring recklessness to Valerian’s tangents, like the scene in which Laureline needs to locate her missing partner by sticking her head inside the ass of a psychic jellyfish.” – North Shore Movies, 07/21/2017
“‘It’s a good 20 hours of work,’ Lazzaro says. ‘Setting up the rigging, power, positioning the truck and building a projector booth from scratch. Then tearing it all down. It all has to be safe and low impact to the grounds.’ So why go to all this trouble when easier, albeit inferior digital cinema options are available? ‘We do the Lord’s work. That’s why.'” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 07/18/2017
“A tale told through images and edits instead of words, this is something far dreamier and more adventurous than you might be used to seeing at the movies. As years rush by the ambitions of A Ghost Story grow increasingly more cosmic and grand. This little low-budget film begins to contain multitudes.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 07/14/2017
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES * 1 / 2
Starring Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Karin Konoval and Amiah Miller. Screenplay by Mark Bomback and Matt Reeves. Directed by Matt Reeves.
“We’re now halfway through director David Lynch’s maddening, magnificent magnum opus, a work of such sweeping breadth and bonkers daring that mere hyperbole feels meager and insufficient. This is the most thrilling, confounding program to be seen on television since… well, since the original Twin Peaks first premiered on ABC back in 1990.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 07/12/2016
“The Beguiled turns out to be a classic Coppola bubble, with the wealthy young ladies of the Farnsworth School throwing themselves into fancy French lessons, formal dinners and arcane matters of antebellum decorum while a war that’s already destroyed their entire way of life rages right outside the door of this obsolete feminine fortress.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 07/10/2017
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING * *
Starring Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. Screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers and Jon Watts. Directed by Jon Watts.
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